The Le Dynasty and Southward Expansion

Le Loi, one of Vietnam's most celebrated heroes, is credited with
rescuing the country from Ming domination in 1428. Born of a wealthy
landowning family, he served as a senior scholar-official until the
advent of the Ming, whom he refused to serve. After a decade of
gathering a resistance movement around him, Le Loi and his forces
finally defeated the Chinese army in 1428. Rather than putting to death
the captured Chinese soldiers and administrators, he magnanimously
provided ships and supplies to send them back to China. Le Loi then
ascended the Vietnamese throne, taking the reign name Le Thai To and
establishing the Le dynasty (1428-1788).

The greatest of the Le dynasty rulers was Le Thanh Tong (1460-97),
who reorganized the administrative divisions of the country and upgraded
the civil service system. He ordered a census of people and landholdings
to be taken every six years, revised the tax system, and commissioned
the writing of a national history. During his reign he accomplished the
conquest of Champa in 1471, the suppression of Lao-led insurrections in
the western border area, and the continuation of diplomatic relations
with China through tribute missions established under Le Thai To. Le
Thanh Tong also ordered the formulation of the Hong Duc legal code,
which was based on Chinese law but included distinctly Vietnamese
features, such as recognition of the higher position of women in
Vietnamese society than in Chinese society. Under the new code, parental
consent was not required for marriage, and daughters were granted equal
inheritance rights with sons. Le Thanh Tong also initiated the
construction and repair of granaries, dispatched his troops to rebuild
irrigation works following floods, and provided for medical aid during
epidemics. A noted writer and poet himself, he encouraged and emphasized
of the Confucian examination system.

A great period of southward expansion also began under Le Thanh Tong.
The don dien system of land settlement, borrowed from the
Chinese, was used extensively to occupy and develop territory wrested
from Champa. Under this system, military colonies were established in
which soldiers and landless peasants cleared a new area, began rice
production on the new land, established a village, and served as a
militia to defend it. After three years, the village was incorporated
into the Vietnamese administrative system, a communal village meeting
house (dinh) was built, and the workers were given an
opportunity to share in the communal lands given by the state to each
village. The remainder of the land belonged to the state. As each area
was cleared and a village established, the soldiers of the don dien
would move on to clear more land. This method contributed greatly to the
success of Vietnam's southward expansion.

Although the Le rulers had ordered widespread land distribution, many
peasants remained landless, while the nobility, government officials,
and military leaders continued to acquire vast tracts. The final
conquest of Champa in 1471 eased the situation somewhat as peasants
advanced steadily southward along the coast into state-owned communal
lands. However, most of the new land was set aside for government
officials and, although the country grew wealthier, the social structure
remained the same. Following the decline of the Le dynasty, landlessness
was a major factor leading to a turbulent period during which the
peasantry questioned the mandate of their rulers.

In the Confucian world view, emperors were said to have the
"mandate of heaven" to rule their people, who, in turn, owed
the emperor total allegiance. Although his power was absolute, an
emperor was responsible for the prosperity of his people and the
maintenance of justice and order. An emperor who did not fulfill his
Confucian responsibilities could, in theory, lose his mandate. In
practice, the Vietnamese people endured many poor emperors, weak and
strong. Counterbalancing the power of the emperor was the power of the
village, illustrated by the Vietnamese proverb, "The laws of the
emperor yield to the customs of the village." Village institutions
served both to restrain the power of the emperor and to provide a buffer
between central authority and the individual villager. Each village had
its council of notables, which was responsible for the obligations of
the village to the state. When the central government imposed levies for
taxes, for corvee labor for public projects, or for soldiers for
defense, these levies were based on the council of notables' report of
the resources of the villages, which was often underestimated to protect
the village. Moreover, there was a division between state and local
responsibilities. The central government assumed responsibility for
military, judicial, and religious functions, while village authorities
oversaw the construction of public works projects such as roads, dikes,
and bridges, which were centrally planned. The autonomy of the villages,
however, contributed to the weakness of the Vietnamese political system.
If the ruling dynasty could no longer protect a village, the village
would often opt for the protection of political movements in opposition
to the dynasty. These movements, in turn, would have difficulty
maintaining the allegiance of the villages unless they were able both to
provide security and to institutionalize their political power. Although
it insured the preservation of a sense of national and cultural
identity, the strength of the villages was a factor contributing to the
political instability of the society as it expanded southward.